Watervliet Arsenal invests $26M in new machinery

The Watervliet Arsenal announced the purchase of $26 million worth of new machinery on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
Danielle Sanzone — The Record

WATERVLIET >> The Watervliet Arsenal is getting $26 million in new machines, the largest investment of its kind at the facility in several years, which officials hope will result in additional public-private partnerships.

The new machines, numbering around 30, will manufacture artillery guns, tank cannons, and mortars. The old machines handled a similar load but the new state of the art equipment is expected to increase the Arsenal’s capability and efficiency, explained Jim Kardas, the leader of the manufacturing engineering group.

“This is more than in recent years,” he said of the machine purchases, which took years to review and approve.

The Arsenal’s fleet of new equipment has been spread out between buildings 135, 35, 25, and 20, taking the place of older units that, over the years, have required thousands of dollars in repairs and hard-to-find parts. Kardas said that due to the age of some of the machines, finding replacement parts can be extremely difficult and costly. Some machines cost about $15,000 annually to repair, he added.

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Still, these machines do last a long time.

“I’ll probably croak before this machine does,” said one operator of a 1985 unit.

The new machines, which were found and purchased in places including Italy, South Korea and Wisconsin, sometimes do the work of two of the older machines and require just one operator.

Franco Morlino came from Italy in January to help put together a new machine that will manufacture large caliber cannons. He will train the machinists on the $1.2 million piece of equipment over the next few weeks and head back to Europe likely sometime in March, he said.

Along with the machines themselves, the infrastructure to install the new equipment is also impressive. One $4 million opposed spindle unit from Illinois required 350 yards of concrete for the floor, which is about 35 truckloads. There is also 36,000 pounds of steel being used in the floor at its base. The machine itself is 192,000 pounds, said Frank Salvatore, an equipment specialist who goes to the locations to test out the machines.

Other machines have a granite bed for vibration dampening, which is already helped by the Arsenal’s location on a shale bed. The shale is part of the reason the Arsenal was positioned where it was, explained Ray Gaston, chief of production control and planning division.

“These are more efficient machines which, in the end, will reduce our operating costs and keep us competitive,” said Gaston, noting that the machines can work on both large and intricate jobs.

Along with weapons manufacturing, the new and old machines can be used for jobs ranging from bridge construction to parts for large vehicles and trains.

While all of the machines being replaced were put out to excess, which could result in being recycled, scrapped, or bid on, all of the new machines are expected to be installed by the end of the Arsenal’s fiscal year, in September, said Kardas.